28 January - montpellier chapter, cheltenham

We'd planned a grand day out to give us something to look forward to amongst the January greyness. We got the train to Cheltenham and had booked for lunch at a trendy hotel, the Montpellier Chapter. The restaurant, which has Simon Hopkinson as an advisor, got a good write-up in the Guardian, so we had high hopes for a cool, buzzy atmosphere and some good food. When we arrived at 12.30 though, there were only two other couples in an otherwise completely empty restaurant and we were all stuck in a corridor-type area rather than in the main body of the restaurant, which looked like it was set up for a big group. I was a bit disappointed to be sat in a rather unappealing corner in a draught, but expected that things would perk up when 'the others' arrived, possibly for one. I had some nice scallops to start, although the orange zest in the topping was a bit over-powering for my liking. By the time our mains arrived, the other couples had left and I'd overheard from one of the waitresses that they were actually gearing up for a big group for afternoon tea later in the day - leaving us as the lone diners in the corner of a completely empty restaurant - chilly, soulless and distinctly uncomfortable!! Our main was very good, we both had pork fillet and pork belly with creamy mash, red cabbage and apple sauce - all very well cooked and delicious. We chatted a bit to the waitress at the end of the meal and she apologised that we hadn't caught them on the best of days. I guess it was just bad luck and there wasn't an awful lot they could have done about it - except perhaps seated us in a slightly comfier spot. Thankfully, we had a great afternoon's shopping afterwards though and a good stop for tea and cake at the Swallow Bakery before we headed home.

In the evening, we didn't really need a proper meal, so I made up a few tapas-style dishes to pick on instead - warm tomato and basil salad, beetroot with toasted walnuts and some fried potatoes topped with chorizo and sliced red pepper.

3 September - steak and homegrown tomatoes

We grabbed a quick lunch on our way out to do stuff at Rocotillos, a great little diner nearby. We had a simple bacon sandwich and one of their fantastic milkshakes - banana, made with real bananas, of course!

The tomatoes from the terrace are coming thick and fast now and tasting really great, so dinner tonight was planned around a big warm tomato and basil salad. Served with fillet steak and rosemary roast new potatoes, the tomatoes were just perfect!

31 July - halloumi, curry and greengage jam

On a lovely hot summer Sunday, we lazed around and had a late lunch of fried halloumi and warm tomato salad.

Yesterday, Tris had brought back a big bag of greengages from the French market in town - part of the Bristol Harbour Festival. Unfortunately, lots of them turned out to be split, so needed using quickly. After a bit of online searching, I found a very simple recipe for greengage jam and decided to give it a go - having never made jam before.

• Put 750g of whole greengages in a large pan with 150ml water and a whole vanilla pod. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 30 mins until really soft.
• Off the heat, stir in 650g sugar and a tiny knob of butter (c.8g), stir and return to the heat.
• Boil hard for 10 mins and skim off the stones that have risen to the top.
• Keep boiling for about another 10 mins, remove the vanilla pod, allow to cool a little, then spoon into sterilised jars. This amount filled two standard size jam jars and two smaller jars.
  

I wasn't sure initially whether the final result was a bit runny, but once it had cooled properly, it had set to a nice jammy consistency and tasted really rather good. I'm not a big jam eater, so I might have to think about giving at least one of the jars away, but I'm sure we'll get through the rest.

Tris was in the kitchen this evening, cooking up a really good lamb curry from Anjum Anand's Indian food Made Easy. We had it out on the terrace with some beans from the garden cooked up with ginger and spices. A great end to the weekend!

18 July - a warm tomato salad and chorizo & broad bean "paella"

There was another handful of tomatoes ready to pick today, so I used them in a favourite warm tomato and basil salad. I have to admit that the home-grown tomatoes have been slightly less impressive than the other veg, with slightly thick skins and not quite as flavoursome as I'd hoped. This treatment just softened them slightly and brought out their sweetness perfectly. I warmed a good pool of extra virgin olive oil in a small pan and gently fried a couple of chopped spring onions (I usually use a shallot, but didn't have any), with some thinly sliced garlic. Then I added a squeeze of lemon juice, a splash of vinegar (I used raspberry vinegar today) and a pinch of salt, followed by the tomatoes - chopped in half - and a few shredded basil leaves. Just stir them around for a minute or so and then tip onto a plate with a few new potatoes and some mozzarella - yum!

For dinner, I cooked up some chorizo and broad beans with paella rice. Just a chopped onion and a couple of cloves of sliced garlic fried gently with some sliced cooking chorizo so it releases its red-orange juices, then a cup of paella rice stirred in with a few threads of saffron. I gradually added chicken stock until the rice was cooked, adding a few peas and chopped green beans (literally just a couple from the garden), then a nice big pile of broad beans and some chopped parsley. Simple, tasty and comforting on another damp evening.